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Police recover car and 54-year-old victim three days after he drove off 69th Street Pier

Police recover car and 54-year-old victim three days after he drove off 69th Street Pier
Photo by Georgine Benvenuto

The police department’s Harbor Unit and scuba teams recovered a black Toyota RAV4 with the body of a 54-year-old man inside from the water just south of the 69th Street Pier on Thursday around 12:45 pm, police said.

Three days earlier, on Monday morning, the car careened down the Pier and flew into the water just after 1 am, the New York Post reported.

A witness who was fishing at the end of the pier told the Post that the car looked like it was going between 60 and 70 miles per hour and only took about 10 seconds to speed down the pier, zooming around tables and a 9/11 monument and plowing through one of six metal stanchions.

Divers from the fire department searched the waters shortly after the car launched into the water that night, but did not find any victims.

The recovered victim, assumed to be the driver, has not yet been identified, and police said the medical examiner will determine the cause of death.

— with Georgine Benvenuto

Reach reporter Julianne McShane at (718) 260–2523 or by e-mail at jmcshane@cnglocal.com. Follow her on Twitter @juliannemcshane.
Plunge: Witnesses say the car sped off the end of the pier and punged into the water on Nov. 6.
Photo by Paul Martinka